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mod_atrack - Advanced user tracking for Apache web servers

Introduction

mod_atrack extends the functionality of mod_usertrack to allow the
server to track a selected subset of users visiting an Apache web
server. It is released under the Apache LICENSE. This software
comes with no warranty, expressed or implied, etc.

The code compiles out of the box on Apache-1.3 under Unix systems,
it needs some work to port it to windows, I would gladly accept
an offer from anybody with a windows system.

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The current release is 1.0.0, dated 2000-02-17. The ChangeLog is in
the top of the source code, and will apply to changes from the date of
public release. I have not logged in house development. Older versions
will be linked below as and when there are significant modifications.

ChangeLog

1.0.0

Initial public release.

1.0.1

Format to Apache standard.

Documentation

Please see the documentation
for mod_usertrack for explanation of the principle. This
documentation bears improvement. Most of the documentation here
is copied directly from that source where the functionality of
this new code was designed to be identical to the functionality of
mod_usertrack.

mod_atrack was written to respond to a few user issues. Users might
not want cookies and might not like pressing 'no' repeatedly. We
might not want to track every user. We might wish to track users
coming only from certain referers, for example search engines. The
logic works as follows:

If we already have a cookie, don't send a new one.

If we don't, fall within the one in CookieUsers chance,
don't send a cookie.

If NoLocalRefer is set:

If we have no referer, the user is using an older browser
and don't send a cookie.

If the referer is local, don't send a cookie.

If we are sending only to listed referers, check the list and
don't send a cookie if no match.

When used, this directive sets an expiry time on the cookie generated
by the atrack module. The expiry-period can be given either
as a number of seconds, or in the format such as "2 weeks 3 days 7
hours". Valid denominations are: years, months, weeks, hours, minutes
and seconds. If the expiry time is in any format other than one
number indicating the number of seconds, it must be enclosed by
double quotes.

If this directive is not used, cookies last only for the current
browser session.

When the user track module is compiled in, and "CookieTracking on" is
set, Apache will start sending a user-tracking cookie for all new
requests. This directive can be used to turn this behavior on or off
on a per-server or per-directory basis. By default, compiling
mod_atrack will not activate cookies.

This directive tells the module to track only every
nth user. Selection is done randomly with a 1 in
n probability that an otherwise eligible user will be sent
a cookie. The default is 1, which means that every user will get
a cookie.

Tells the module not to send a cookie to a user who is moving within
the site. If a user visits the site, is offered a cookie and refuses,
it may be assumed that they will continue to refuse cookies. Therefore
cookies may be sent only on entering the site for the first time.

Blank referers and clients which do not send a referer to the server
are treated as local referers, to play safe.

Adds a regular expression to the list of valid referring servers. When
CookieServerList is set to on, only users with a valid referer
matching at least one regular expression in this list will come under
consideration for receiving a cookie.

Related projects

These are related projects which have come to my attention. I in no way
endorse, maintain or take any responsibility for them.